Former CU star player Linda Lappe is hoping to turn the program around as the Buffs' new head coach.

Remember when Colorado women’s basketball was a must-see hoops experience? That was back in the days when Ceal Barry was coach and the Buffs were regulars on the national scene.

New CU coach Linda Lappe certainly remembers. She was a player for the Buffs from 1998-2003, a ride that culminated with three NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2002 Elite Eight.

Although expectations are low for Lappe’s Buffs – CU was picked to finish 12th in Big 12 by the league’s coaches – Lappe is eager to restore luster to the program.

“I’m not sure what will be new and surprising, but I think what you’ll see is a team that is passionate about basketball, passionate to be on the floor, passionate to wear the CU uniform,” she said during last week’s media day. “They have an understanding of the tradition. They have an understanding of the 53-game home win streak that we had here a while back and really take the court with a sense of urgency. We have to prove a lot this year. We have to prove a lot of people wrong; we’ve talked about that already.”

Lappe has agreed to be the next subject of The Denver Post’s “Fan Mail” feature. She is ready to take your questions about her team, her coaching philosophy and the excitement of a new season.

Please email your questions to fanmail@denverpost.com. Please be sure to include your name and where you are from.

Torres left the team early last week and returned to his home in Southern California for what Hawkins called “a variety of personal reasons.” Hawkins said at that time that there was a possibility Torres might come back at some point.

But Hawkins said Tuesday that a return by Torres won’t happen.

Torres, who played high school football for former CU quarterback Mike Moschetti, played in the first four games. He netted 58 yards on 14 carries as the third-string tailback and was thought to have a bright future with the Buffs.

As hard as it is to believe, Georgia’s trip to Boulder for Saturday’s game against Colorado will mark just the fourth time since 1934 that the Bulldogs will be traveling to play a regular-season game west of the Mississippi River.

Before Georgia’s 27-10 victory at Arizona State in 2008, the Bulldogs had not played in the west during the regular season since losing 10-3 at Southern Cal in 1960. Georgia also lost to USC in Los Angeles in 1931 and 1933.

Historically, Georgia has only scheduled nonconference road games against schools in the Southeastern part of the country.

Colorado has a different philosophy.

“(It’s) one of the things we try to do here, and Colorado has always scheduled that way,” CU coach Dan Hawkins said Monday during the Big 12 coaches teleconference. “(That’s) one of the experiences a player can get. It’s a great educational opportunity for guys to get around to different parts of the country.

“I know everybody loves to come to Colorado. It’s a beautiful state. There are a lot of things to see and do. The weather is gorgeous. When people see Colorado on the schedule, they book their ticket because it’s a great place to visit.”

Speaking Monday on the Big 12 coaches teleconference, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said he expects Georgia to arrive in Boulder raring to go despite the Bulldogs having won just one of their first four games.

“It’s a case of pride,” Hawkins said. “Obviously, they’ll get (wide receiver A.J.) Green back, and that will give them some juice. And their quarterback (freshman Aaron Murray) is continuing to get better and seeing things. I fully expect them to be ready when they come in here.

“I respect (Georgia coach) Mark Richt as much as anybody in the (coaching) profession,” Hawkins added. “He’s a great coach and they’re a great program.

Georgia is 0-3 to start its Southeastern Conference schedule for the first time in Richt’s nine years as coach and as a program for the first time since 1993.

Hawkins is buying any notion that the Bulldogs are down, however.

“I don’t take a lot of stock in the fact that they have dropped a couple of games,” Hawkins said. “Obviously, they battled and played a great game against Arkansas and had chances to win that game. You could see how good Arkansas is, based on their (close loss) against Alabama.

“Last week (in the loss at Mississippi State), things just did not go their way. You feel bad, really, for any coach that just couldn’t get a break.”

“They’re a great football program and they’re a good team and he’s a good coach,” Hawkins added. “They’ll be ready to go when they get in here.”

Former Littleton running back Mister Jones could see playing this fall at Texas A&M. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

My recently concluded “Carwriters” tour of the Big 12 South revealed a lot more than what Tommy Tuberville’s new office looks like at Texas Tech and Bob Stoops’ disdain for agents.

Through 1,143 miles of some of the ugliest real estate on planet earth, I jotted a few other notes down the side of my notepad. If I can just wipe away the tartar sauce stains from too much catfish, here’s what I found:

IRVING, Texas – Nothing gets a college football coach more excited than to surpass preseason expectations and prove the detractors wrong.

Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy returns just eight starters – four on offense, four on defense – from last year’s 9-4 team. In a preseason poll, OSU was picked by the league’s coaches to finish fifth among the six teams in the Big 12 South Division, only ahead of Baylor.

Oklahoma State will have a new quarterback, Brandon Weeden, and four starters on the offensive line. But don’t count out the Cowboys, Gundy said.

“We’ve been fortunate over the last few years that we had a number of returning starters that have provided great leadership and great continuity over the last couple of years, and that allowed us to have a tremendous amount of success,” Gundy said today during the second day of the three-day Big 12 football media media days.

“But I think this upcoming season provides us with an opportunity to develop some new faces, let some of these young guys get in the fold quick, gain a lot of experience. Our coaching staff and our football team expects us to play better than what other people may anticipate us playing.”

Weeden, a former minor league baseball player, had his coming out party last fall in the 11th regular-season game, against Colorado. He came off the bench and led the Cowboys to a 31-28 come-from-behind victory in Stillwater.

“I think one area I was pleased with (in that game) more than any was his ability to move around and make a play,” said Gundy, a former star quarterback at OSU. “Most quarterbacks don’t have the luxury of sitting in the pocket, throwing the ball down the field.

“(But) you can’t put too much into that second half (against Colorado). … He’s got a lot of work ahead of him. What we’re pleased with is his ability to pay the price, which he has done up to this point.”

Is the CU-Nebraska game after Thanksgiving soon history? (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

I drove through the state of Nebraska last week on the way to a family wedding in Minnesota (my wife is from there) and spent a night in Huskerland.

Of course, a major topic of conversation was conference realignment. After chatting with nearly a dozen Husker faithful, I came to the conclusion that the state must be almost 100-percent supportive of Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten.

And, NU fans think Colorado was wise to bolt for the Pac-10.

CU and Nebraska announced their decisions just a day apart. It appears both had been angling to leave the Big 12 for weeks, perhaps months.

The only reservation that some NU fans had was about how leaving the Big 12 might adversely affect the Huskers’ recruiting efforts in the state of Texas. But everyone that I talked to agreed that the move to the Big Ten is worth it, even if Nebraska has to adjust its recruiting strategy.

Perhaps, the Husker fans said, Nebraska will become more successful in Florida because so many Big Ten teams annually pluck players from the Sunshine State. It’s been a while since Nebraska was able to lure a Tommie Frazier from there.

So far Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten has not become a detriment to recruiting. In fact, the Huskers appear on track to land one of their best classes in recent years. That includes oral commitments from two four-star quarterbacks in Big 12 country: 6-5 Bubba Starling of Gardner, Kan., and 6-1 Jamal Turner of Arlington, Texas.

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Darrell Scott lands well

Former Colorado tailback Darrell Scott obviously made a miscalculation in believing he could join his uncle, ex-Buff wideout Josh Smith, at UCLA. But I think South Florida is a good choice for Scott. It’s in a BCS league, the Big East. And Scott was born in Florida (Tallahassee) and still has extended family in Florida.

Scott must sit out the 2010 season under transfer rules. Then it will be interesting to see if, in new surroundings, he can live up to the potential he showed as a national high school blue-chipper in the Los Angeles area. For the most part, Scott looked rather pedestrian at CU. At times he showed the burst that everyone was waiting for. But not nearly often enough.

Of course, Big 12 Conference men’s basketball coaches are going to say that their conference is the best.

But Nebraska’s Doc Sadler made the argument in a different way, one that could start a lively discussion in sports bars.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Colorado, in a lot of leagues, would have a much better record,” Sadler said Monday on the Big 12 coaches teleconference. “(They) probably would have seven or eight (conference) wins.’’

Colorado, 13-15 overall, takes a league record of 4-10 into its Tuesday night game at Nebraska (14-15, 2-12).

“They’ve played the No. 1-ranked team in the country (Kansas, which was top-ranked at the time) to the last possession,” Sadler said of the Buffs. “They played Kansas State (now No. 5 in the Associated Press poll) to basically the last two minutes of the game.

“I said before the season that I thought Colorado would be a team that would finish eighth or ninth in this league,” he added. “Everybody had picked them 12th and I thought that was nuts. I liked their basketball team, and that was before I even realized how good the (Alec) Burks kid was.”

Sadler was asked on the teleconference if his team also would have fared better in another conference.

“I’m not for sure that this isn’t the best team I’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Sadler, who is 69-55 in four seasons in Lincoln. “We just don’t have the wins.”

I know, this state has dozens who qualify as elder rippers. But New Castle pedaler Jacques “Frenchy” Houot, at 74, finished the 2009 Men’s 30+ Super D Mountain States Cup series in fifth place, besting dozens of riders half his age.SuperHumanMag.com recently posted a sweet video of Frenchy’s final Super D race at Copper last month, where he claimed his top 5 berth. Even more impressive is the fact that he recently beat back cancer, one of apparently many threats he has escaped in his 74 years.
“My heart is young,” he says.

The play-by-play voice of ESPN’s Thursday night college football won’t need a map to find Boulder – or to get around the University of Colorado campus, for that matter.

Chris Fowler, a 1985 Colorado graduate best known for anchoring ESPN’s College GameDay show on Saturday mornings, will be joined for ESPN’s telecast of the CU vs. West Virginia game by Craig James, Jesse Palmer and Erin Andrews. Read more…

Having moved to Colorado 19 years ago, I arrived relatively late on the scene among those fortunate enough to have known Eddie Crowder. We spoke a dozen or so times, usually when he would show up to watch a Buffaloes practice or if I needed to pick his brain on the phone about some college football issue.

My lasting memory will be of what would become our final conversation. It was during the 2008 signing day “celebration” at CU in February, when everybody was giddy over a class that included tailback Darrell Scott and other blue-chippers. Read more…

Former Air Force basketball coach Reggie Minton last spoke to his dear friend Don Haskins on Thursday. Minton sensed the time was near.

“He wasn’t happy,” said the deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Tuesday, Minton was en route to El Paso for a final farewell to his larger-than-life mentor.

Yes, Haskins made his national name when he placed an all-black lineup on the floor to win the 1966 Final Four championship game against tradition-bound and very white Kentucky. Forty years later, the “Glory Road” team was finally given its overdue recognition at halftime of the title game two years ago.

But up and down I-25 Front Range corridor Haskins was just “one of the boys” in the glory days of the WAC. He shuffled into Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Laramie, chatted with the host school sports information directors and local media. He changed from his plaid wool shirts into a starched white dress shirt with a clip on tie. Usually before his players changed, he was back in his hunting lodge shirt.

Friendships with coaches superceded any officiating calls, wins or losses. “There was a camaraderie then. There’s less of it today. Maybe it’s the big contracts,” Minton said.

The Mountain West Conference, comprised of former WAC schools, is celebrating its 10th year. Each school is at least two coaches removed from the last coach to face Haskins in the mid-to-late 90’s. The proud heritage is fading.

That’s why is was so good to chat with Minton this week and reminisce. We recalled the grace Haskins showed when he lost at Air Force at a time no one was “supposed” to lose to Air Force. AFA had three upsets over UTEP from 1992-1998. The 1992 Miners team advanced to the Sweet 16.

It’s hard to believe UTEP has gone through four coaches since Haskins retired in 1999 when Haskins was there 38 years. “He was meant for El Paso,” said Minton. “He was cut from a special cloth.”

Any number of coaches have since stopped by the neighborhood, some thinking they were legends in the making.

Whether by habit or habitat, it would be difficult find two game birds more diverse than doves and dusky grouse. Different size, different haunts, different flight. Nothing the same.

The divergence continues with the relative hunter success for two species that highlighted the opening of Colorado bird season earlier this week. Bad year for doves, good for grouse.

With the exception of lucky hunters who found a few sweet spots, the dove opener was the biggest bust in a decade — largely because most of the birds already skedaddled south from the cold front that hit the country two weeks earlier.

Even the fall-back areas of southeast Colorado didn’t hold birds for long. An e-mail from one forlorn hunter told how he and a buddy bagged a joint 14 little gray birds in two days of hard hunting, not exactly what you plan for a 600-mile round trip.

The pity here is that more people try for doves during that first glorious week of the season than all the other upland birds put together. Colorado doesn’t need any more disappointed hunters.

Dusky grouse — formerly called blue grouse by our wildlife patrol — were quite another matter. Prime breeding conditions produced many new coveys; great feed conditions kept them together in the mid-elevation haunts where hunters more easily locate them.

Vic Rompa, president of the Rocky Mountain Point Lab Club (http://rmpointinglab.com) and partner Joe Harrison pronounced it the best opener ever after locating batches of birds in the Kremmling area.

“Two new covey locations in one day is unheard of in my 8 years of blue grouse hunting,” Rompa wrote.

While doves are gone for a year, shotgun enthusiasts can expect a couple weeks or more good action for grouse — or at least until a nasty freeze nips the berries and grasshoppers.
There’s something magical about a romp through the brisk autumn woods behind a good pointing dog. If you’ve got some pent-up energy to spend, give mountain grouse a try.

When asked on this week’s Big 12 coaches teleconference about whether he would prefer to play the CU vs. Colorado State series at Invesco Field or on campus sites, Hawkins said it did not matter to him.

“I’m one of those guys that, if they tell you to play out in Fort Hays (Kan.), that’s where you play,’’ Hawkins said. Read more…

With short days remaining before the start of Colorado’s dove season, the verdict is still out on whether the recent spate of rain and cold has chased most of the birds out of the state. More people pursue doves during the first few days of the season that all the other upland bird hunts combined. Thus any weather-related impact on the dove shoot represents a major blow to the greater shotgun season.

But all is not lost for scattergun enthusiasts. The statewide downpour may have come too late to help the pheasant and quail hatch in certain drought-stricken zones, but it did much to advance prospects in ways that might have escaped general notice.

First off, the moisture promotes a couple months of late weed growth, much-needed cover for ground birds that need protection from predators and the wrath of winter. This extra layer of cover also creates places where hunters might expect to connect with pheasant and quail.

But the biggest boost of all comes for those who pursue dusky, or blue grouse at those intermediate elevations where most broods remain during the early part of September. The moisture serves to maintain the tender shoots, berries and insects on which the grouse broods thrive. Otherwise, the hens and chicks will be hot-footing it toward the higher ridges and dense timber where they spend the winter, places where they become much harder to find.

I like the cover photo of a buffalo (it’s not Ralphie) on this year’s Colorado football media guide, commemorating 2008 as the 75th season with the American bison as the team’s nickname.

I just hope that buffalo stays safe because last year there seemed to be a cover jinx of sorts going on.

Three team captains were photographed at Boulder Falls for the cover of the 2007 media guide. Linebacker Jordon Dizon was terrific, of course, getting named Big 12 defensive player of the year by the league’s coaches and getting drafted by Detroit in the second round. But quarterback Bernard Jackson (academics) never played a down in 2007, and linebacker/special teams star R.J. Brown had to give up football after suffering the ninth concussion of his career in the third game, against Florida State.

Don’t you love it when college coaches are honest, even brutally so, and say what they really think?

My favorite example goes back to football national signing day in 1983 (I know, that dates me, but so does my gray hair) when John Cooper, then coaching at the University of Tulsa, was given a phone call by me – then working for the Daily Oklahoman newspaper in Oklahoma City.

Cooper admitted that he had signed a “decent class” but not an outstanding one. When I told him it was refreshing to hear that kind of honesty from a coach, he added something like this: Read more…

They were known to most of us as “non-revenue” sports – or, worse, “minor” sports — until somebody came up with the great idea of calling them “Olympic sports.”

The Oly term has become widely accepted on college campuses for the past decade or so when discussing track and field, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, volleyball, etc. Bravo. Athletes in those sports generally put in the same hours and work just as hard as their counterparts in football and basketball, in some cases harder. Read more…